That Guy at the Bar
by peaches2217
Summary: Is it love? Is it simple attraction? Is it something that transcends any label? Whatever it is, it's intoxicating, and Gakupo is completely lost in it. (Part of the Kyokotta Household series.)


_**The "Ass vs. Tits" debate mentioned later on is from Chapter 14 of The BananaBird Chronicles. Please enjoy!**_

* * *

The familiar scent of hops and cigarette smoke filled Gakupo's nostrils as he stepped inside. It was inviting and sickly in equal measures, enticing him deeper into the bar's tangle of rabble rousers, already off their rockers though the sun had just set.

But they didn't matter. All that mattered was the stage at the other end of the bar and its list of Friday night performers, posted in front of the mic stand.

Gakupo's heart hammered in his throat as he scanned through the list.

The name he was looking for wasn't there.

He gulped heavily. That couldn't be right. They'd parted with another promise to meet again next week. Now next week was here, and he was here, but _he _wasn't here on the list.

Why, oh _why _hadn't he asked for his number like he'd promised himself he would every week for the past two months?

"Looking for someone?"

If it's possible to give oneself whiplash by merely turning around, that's what happened to Gakupo when he heard that voice.

And there he was, arms crossed over his chest, amusement sparkling in his brown eyes.

"T-Teru!" The name left Gakupo's throat in an embarrassing squeak. No. He couldn't let Teru see just how worked up he'd been. He couldn't kill his image. Not like this. He cleared his throat and adjusted his stance so that his weight was leaned on his left leg, hand on his hip. Yeah. That was "cool" enough. "Teru-dono. Yes, I was just looking for your name. There appears to be an error in the printing."

Teru laughed, running a hand through his perfectly spiked chestnut hair. "Actually, I didn't sign up to sing tonight. So it's not an error."

"Oh." Gakupo found himself mirroring the action, brushing his fingers through the section of hair he'd left loose. "How come? Just taking a break?"

"Yeah." He gestured with his head and turned on the ball of his foot, headed toward the bar in the back. Gakupo had to fight not to watch him as he walked — he wasn't wearing his coat tonight, so he had an unrestricted view of his tight jeans hugging his swaying hips, and goodness what hips they were, especially for someone so lanky.

He didn't catch up until Teru was nearly at the back, and then he almost stopped again when Teru bent over, elbows on the bar.

_Goodness, _what hips those were.

He composed himself just in time to order a pint of his usual. If Teru noticed anything off about his behavior, he wasn't letting it show.

Gakupo waited until he wasn't looking and lightly slapped himself. _Get it together, Gakkun._

"Yeah," Teru continued as they waited for their drinks, "I thought it might be fun to just sit back and watch the rest of the talent, see what all I'm up against." He laughed again, a deep, rumbling chuckle. "Nah, I'm not up against anything. I'm glad there's so many youngsters getting into music. They're our hope for carrying on the future. Don't you think?"

Images of Gumi and Miku and the twins and Oliver played in Gakupo's head, and he smiled. "I agree."

Each man was handed his pint, and Teru gestured once again, leading Gakupo to a table in front of the stage.

The first sip of beer relaxed Gakupo, and he sank deeply into his chair. Yes. That was better.

"So," Teru said, relaxing into his own seat, "anything exciting happen lately?"

Gakupo took another sip and chuckled. Oh, did something exciting happen. "Well, yesterday, my family and I got into a heated debate."

"Oh?" Teru leaned forward, cocking his head like a focused puppy.

"The classic Ass versus Tits debate, you see."

Teru made a choking noise, then he laughed loudly, a proper belly laugh. "Oh God! How did that go?"

"It was a tie." Gakupo smiled to himself. Teru laughed easily and often, but still, knowing he'd been the reason for it made him glow with pride. "We had to call a distant relative to break the tie. In the end, Tits won."

Humming, Teru took a large swig of his drink. "So where do you stand on that issue, anyway? I gotta know."

_"Onii-chan! What would that guy at the bar think if he knew your preference?"_

Gumi's taunt had been made in jest, and Gakupo had been too busy insisting he was most certainly _not _attracted to the very attractive Teru to bother worrying about it, but now he feared she might actually be right.

"Undecided," he said. Teru seemed content with this answer, and he leaned back and folded his arms behind his head.

"Yeah, I get that. They're both pretty great. Though personally…" He pursed his lips and looked up at the ceiling beams for a moment, then he shook his head. "Nah, that's a little TMI, I think. Basically, yeah, I like your answer."

_Good call, imouto. Thank you._

"Man, I gotta meet your family sometime!" Teru smiled off at the stage, where a small band of teenagers was assembling a drum set. "They sound like loads of fun."

Gakupo smiled, too. "I'd like that."

He would like that, he really would. He wouldn't even mind the teasing and the _I knew it! _s and the passing of bet money if it meant getting to bring Teru home to meet everyone, because that would mean that they were, well…

But it was just a fantasy, anyway. Gakupo was obscure enough to go unrecognized by most unless he was in his promotional outfit. But even someone like Teru, who rarely dabbled in anything outside of rock and metal, would instantly recognize the short, cheerful girl with the mint-colored twintails, and then how would he react?

The truth was that Teru didn't know. He didn't know Gakupo wasn't human, much less that he was a Vocaloid. He didn't know that Gakupo's family ("My older sister, my younger brother and sister-in-law, my little sister, my niece and nephew, and two cousins," as his story went) was composed entirely of Vocaloids as well.

And, frankly, he had no intention of ever telling him. Humans were odd and unpredictable. It didn't matter how well an android mimicked human mannerisms; the moment their status as a non-human was unveiled, most humans would either see them suddenly as lesser or as a god-type being.

And what he had with Teru, this easy and comfortable camaraderie that was only very slightly threatened by repressed sexuality… he didn't want that to change. So for the time being, he was fine with leaving Teru in the dark.

As the beer flowed and the music played, Gakupo was able to abandon his inhibitions. His and Teru's conversations became as relaxed as always, and they cheered on the cycle of young musicians and talked about what they liked and weren't fond of as each set change.

Teru advertised himself as a cool king of rock-and-roll. And he was in many ways. Everything about him was smooth — the way words rolled from his tongue, his unfaltering and purposeful walk, the skin of his hands and face and lips. When he was on stage, he captivated his audience with his powerful tenor, belting notes with the ease and precision of Bruce Dickinson and the likes. He often came across as not just cool, but downright cocky.

But he was far from cocky. Just from hearing him speak of his experiences, Gakupo knew as much. Teru had been in a band that wanted to move on to bigger and better things, and Teru, for some very vague reason that he hadn't felt like elaborating on, had decided to stay behind. But he never spoke of his former bandmates with malice or even the slightest shred of jealousy or contempt. Two weeks earlier, he'd eagerly shown Gakupo a video of that band — they'd replaced Teru with someone who was not _nearly _as good, in Gakupo's opinion — and gushed about how close they were to getting their big break, how proud he was of them.

_"So what do you do when you're not performing?" _Gakupo had ventured once, about a month and a half ago. Teru had shrugged and insisted it wasn't too interesting, that he mostly took up odd volunteer jobs to support himself where his music couldn't. It was honorable, Gakupo thought, that he performed such charitable deeds for a living but was still too humble to brag about it. That alone spoke volumes of his character.

Still, there was so much about Teru that Gakupo didn't know. Maybe that was part of Teru's act: he intentionally revealed very little of his life story in order to keep that cool air about him. But even knowing so little about who he was and what he did, he had quickly become a person that Gakupo held dear. When they spoke, whether it was of music or of life in general, Gakupo felt as though he'd known Teru all his life.

Being with him felt natural and even intriguing. He wanted to speak with him more, get through to him, learn who exactly he was and why he held Gakupo under such a spell.

_"That's called a crush, onii-chan," _Gumi had told him just last week, as if he hadn't already figured that out.

Eventually, the beer ran dry and the music faded into nothingness, and Gakupo knew the cab he'd booked would be arriving soon. This night hadn't been nearly long enough.

The two lingered in the cool air outside of the bar for a short time, discussing the bands and singers they had heard and praising the rising generation of musicians. Even the not-so-great ones certainly had potential, Teru was quick to say, and he couldn't wait to hear them again once they'd gained more practice.

Maybe that was part of what drew Gakupo in. Teru was mysterious, yet he was optimistic and kind. It gave him the feeling that, whatever he was hiding, it wasn't malicious. It made him less afraid of finding out.

"By the way," Teru said, stepping back to make room for the random drunkard being thrown out, "I always meant to ask: how do you get home? All the trains are closed at this hour."

Gakupo helped steady the heavily intoxicated man, who muttered a _Thanks, man _and stumbled on his way. "Ah, I just call a twenty-four hour taxi."

"A taxi? At two in the morning, from Ebetsu to Kyokotta?" Teru's face twisted. "That can get pricey, can't it?"

"Yes," Gakupo confirmed, electing to omit the part about him being perfectly able to afford it due to being an android who was paid handsomely for his voice. Indeed, Teru didn't need to know that yet.

Teru rolled his shoulders. "Well," he said, stretching his arms behind his back, "in that case, why don't you come over to my place? You can crash there and then catch a train in the morning. I've only got one bed, but you can have it. I'll sleep on the couch. I mean... unless you don't mind sharing."

Gakupo needed no proof that the gods existed, as in that moment, their hands stopped the rotation of the earth in its tracks.

"...I… Uh…" was his oh-so-intelligent response. No. This wasn't happening. He wasn't _actually _being invited to Teru's bed. No. It was just his repressed desires manifesting themselves into an auditory hallucination. Surely that was it.

But that look in Teru's eyes, was that… uncertainty? He lifted his eyebrows and smiled a small smile and oh no, he _wasn't _imagining this, was he?

_Gods above, I'm yours, take me to your place, do whatever you want with me, I want to know you in every sense of the word _was what Gakupo's mind screamed.

"Uh— th— thank you but I've already booked the cabsoitwouldbeawastenottouseit" was what his mouth said, his words becoming frantically fast and high-pitched as he spoke. Oh, gods above, suddenly not even the strongest breeze could cool him off. Surely Teru could see the fire raging in his cheeks.

But if he could, he didn't make a spectacle of it. He merely shrugged, and his smile looked more characteristically assured now. "Well, the offer's open. If you ever wanna take me up on it, lemme know."

Gakupo nodded stiffly.

Teru bid him a good night and a _See ya next week _and brushed past him.

Gakupo waited until he couldn't hear footsteps anymore. Then he backed against the brick wall of the bar, just in time for his knees to give out.

That hour-long cab ride home was going to be pure hell. Yes, those words, those chocolate-brown eyes, that playful smile, they'd bounce around inside his skull the whole time and he'd be powerless to stop them. At least there was a good chance everyone would be asleep when he got home so he could quickly escape to his room and oh, he would _not _be sleeping tonight, not for a long time.

He buried his face into his hands and groaned.

_What have you gotten yourself into?_

* * *

Teru strode ahead as normal until he rounded the corner. Once he was sure he was out of sight, he leaned his weight against the nearest wall, pent-up air finally escaping his lungs in a shaky exhale. His vision was overtaken with stars and his limbs felt weak with nervous energy.

This "cool guy" persona was getting harder and harder to maintain.

Gakupo's body language had been obvious. He'd known exactly what was being implied, and he'd been fully prepared to accept. So what had stopped him? Maybe he was secretly more shy than he let on, Teru decided. Maybe he was a virgin and such a casual invitation scared him. Maybe Teru would have to be more bold next time.

Assuming he hadn't scared him off for good.

He took a moment to collect himself, breathed in the clean night air, and pressed forward to his apartment.

He'd been hyping himself up to make that offer for such a long time. What had started as a purely platonic interest sprinkled with physical attraction had grown into something more, and he knew it, though he wasn't sure of the exact depths of it. But he wanted to explore it, and he knew Gakupo did, too.

One day. One day that stalemate would be broken, and then…

Once he got to his apartment, Teru peeled off his clothes and removed his contacts and took a very long, very cold shower. When he stepped out, he felt around the counter blindly, slipping on his glasses once he found them.

His hair gel had been scrubbed out, the subtle eyeliner washed away, the musky cologne replaced with the scent of green apple body wash.

Once more, he was Hiyama Kiyoteru, ordinary school teacher for child Vocaloids.

He sighed as he combed through his hair. That. If he wanted this to go much further, he'd have to tell Gakupo someday. How would he react? What would bother him more: the fact that Kiyoteru wasn't human, or the fact that his day job, his true passion, the profession he had readily given up the big time for, was so _plain?_

Kiyoteru wasn't sure what scared him more: Gakupo being freaked out by the whole android thing, or Gakupo getting bored with him and leaving for someone more interesting.

Wouldn't be the first time.

It was for the best Gakupo hadn't come with him, he decided. He would have more time to plan out next week's field trip, draft up some response sheets, maybe organize an educational scavenger hunt while he was at it. He'd get lost in his work and forget all about his trouble with his love life and yes, that was for the best.

Once he was in his night clothes, he began organizing his papers so that he could get to work first thing in the morning.

And until next Friday came, he resolved to put the night's events behind him. Gakupo wasn't bored with him just yet. For the time being, the least he could do was live in the present.

* * *

_**So, if you enjoyed this one, here's a little heads-up: I'm working on a sequel! It'll be explicit, though, so I won't be able to publish it here. It WILL be on my Ao3, however, and I've got a link to my account there on my page if you're interested. Thank you for reading!**_


End file.
